Featuring The Bobby Dazzlers, Flannel!, Three Fallin Camels, Hope, Three Ways West, Slash Monkeys, The Exorsisters, Boredom, Turgid and Riot to Us ....... This is an offering of 20 tracks described on the website as “covering the full spectrum of what could be termed "Punk Music", all recorded on the 4th of July 04 providing A great recorded document of the birth of what is now regarded as a decent East Lancs Punk scene.” – commemorating a punk rock experiment along with the Philadelphia experiment in democracy of 1776 is a good idea. More of a living document and far less contrived document than the American Declaration of Independence ! This is the 10th release on this cool Blackburn label, which is now upto its 25th – a busy year in East Lancashire indeed. All the tracks are taken from this launch gig. Certainly a mixed and varied bag – diversity is always a sign of good things in my lexicon. The Bobby Dazzlers offer 2 live tracks Free Thinking and Silver Spoon Landing which are angry, fast, pretty melodic and some guitar breaks which verge on the self indulgent – so they sound like early NOFX with an English accent. Next up are Flannel (the vocalist is either very young or female) playing ‘You are a twat’ and ‘Barbie Girl’ – a bit out of tune at times, but a worthy effort. Then there is Free Fallin Camels which provide a fast aural onslaught with the tracks ‘Society’s Life Sentence’ and ‘Last Mohican’ – angry young men. Hope (CD reviewed elsewhere) have 2 tracks ‘Stuck in My Head’ and ‘Summer of 99’ play discernably well with dual layered vocals and their sound has the fingerprints of US melodic-core all over it – probably the best of the offerings so far. Three Ways West are a mixture of Mega Armaggedon Death and something else I can’t really describe, their tracks are Caustic Stripper is too heavy for my delicate and fragile listening palette - more Wait and Bleed than Part Time Punks unfortunately. Their second track White Man’s Paradise is a far better offering, sort of sneering, can’t be bothered, laid back vocals create a bit of an intriguing atmosphere. Next up are The Slash Monkeys talk and speak in East Lancs accents and that is no accident on the East Lancs Road (2 P.R. references – did you get ‘em ? well did you ?) and their track Plastic Punks is pretty good with a varied tempo. American Nazi (Operation Paperclip) is a bit slower and has a similar vocal inflection at the end of every second line like the last track. Again mid tempo with variable speed – worth checking out. The Exorsisters offer Kill Barbie – kill yourself, ah yes the existential confrontation with one’s own mortality always makes good material for contemplation – and this is quite a good song … very much in the meat and two veg with two fingers early punk rock style. Their second track ‘Sex Drugs TV ‘ also works well, good rocky chugging guitar doing the right thing at the right time rather than competing with the other instruments, reminds me a bit of the Skulls – good work. Boredom start Plan B with a Janie Jones drum-beat, a bass then guitar then vocals then backing vocals – not quite Da Clash – but it’s ok, maybe a bit more work on the vox (which are quire raw) might make the overall package sound a bit more in keeping with the instruments. Track 2 is Low Life – bass then vocals, a gradual build up – similar thoughts to the first one (nice stop by the way) I reckon if mixed well this could work pretty well. Turgid are the penultimate offering – more ATV and TV personalities than Slipknot – and quite different to the other bands. The guitar for instance has a clear sound – was this purposeful or the wrong setting at the gig, it can easily happen if u r sharing amps with foot switches and stuff ? Sounds ok though. Track 2 is American Jesus and introduced with the claim that “this is why Americans are all twats” – maybe not quite true in a more sober discursive setting, but when u r up there nerves and the moment can prompt you to say anything. Don’t have the lyrics but you probably get the sentiment – again it sounds ok. Finally (yes this is a long review – and I still have 1.5 foot of CD’s to get through) we have Riot to Us playing 2 tracks Follow the Leader and Ignore, Don’t Conform which I would describe as approaching Conflict in certain respects – pretty fast and angry, yet coherent. 10 local bands at one gig – can’t be bad ! (7/10)
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